The New Belli Victorians

[Beth Macbain]

14 minutes ago, Blush Bravin said:

My curiosity was peaked when someone mentioned that Weeping Willows are typically found in the south. So google being my friend I decided to investigate where the Weeping Willow comes from and what is its natural habitat. I was surprised by what I found.

I never ever suspected they came from China!

And those branches sting when used as switches. 

[Alyona Su]

46 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

1 hour ago, Blush Bravin said:

My curiosity was peaked when someone mentioned that Weeping Willows are typically found in the south. So google being my friend I decided to investigate where the Weeping Willow comes from and what is its natural habitat. I was surprised by what I found.

I never ever suspected they came from China!

And those branches sting when used as switches.

They do sting. And Plums come from China. So does Ketchup (a facsimile of Katsiup sauce) - oh, and Spaghetti is originally Chinese, too. So does the spoon, but not the fork, we don't like to stab our food. Bahahaha!

Edited December 9, 2019 by Alyona Su

[LittleMe Jewell]

55 minutes ago, Blush Bravin said:

My curiosity was peaked when someone mentioned that Weeping Willows are typically found in the south. So google being my friend I decided to investigate where the Weeping Willow comes from and what is its natural habitat. I was surprised by what I found.

I never ever suspected they came from China!

Yep - We had tons of those where I grew up in Missouri.  They look gorgeous in ice storms, but you can also get a lot of broken limbs at those times.

[Blush Bravin]

15 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

They do sting. And Plums come from China. So does Ketchup (a facsimile of Katsiup sauce) - oh, and Spaghetti is originally Chinese, too. So does the spoon, but not the fork, we don't like to stab our food. Bahahaha!

I knew about the whole Marco Polo and noodles connection. Some still argue that noodles sprung up in two different locals around the same time and no one can prove otherwise. I tend to believe Polo brought them back with him from China. But ketchup? That I find very curious. When did China get tomatoes? I know they were brought to Europe during the Columbian Exchange.

[Rolig Loon]

11 minutes ago, Blush Bravin said:

When did China get tomatoes?

Google (or, rather, Wikipedia) is your friend here.  I had to look just now to refresh my memory.  The original Chinese version had nothing to do with tomatoes.  It was a fish sauce. According to the Wikipedia article, it came to the west by way of Maylasia, and then to Europe and North America.   There, "Many variations of ketchup were created, but the tomato-based version did not appear until about a century after other types. An early recipe for "Tomata Catsup" from 1817 still has the anchovies that betray its fish-sauce ancestry:"

Edited December 9, 2019 by Rolig Loon
typos. as always.

[Alyona Su]

13 minutes ago, Blush Bravin said:

I knew about the whole Marco Polo and noodles connection. Some still argue that noodles sprung up in two different locals around the same time and no one can prove otherwise. I tend to believe Polo brought them back with him from China. But ketchup? That I find very curious. When did China get tomatoes? I know they were brought to Europe during the Columbian Exchange.

That's the point: China doesn't use tomatoes - there is a fruit that (at the time, at least) only grew in the regions of China where they found it. The cause is called Katsium (Kat-see-up) - when the Westerners tried to make it, they couldn't, so they substituted tomatoes for ... Okay - easier to just find it on the web because DuckDuckGo is my friend LOL.

*****

Found it: https://www.thespruceeats.com/ketchup-catsup-history-1807618

Quote

From China to England 

The word ketchup is derived from the Chinese word ke-tsiap, meaning a pickled fish sauce. This mixture was mainly added to recipes to season a dish, versus served as a condiment. It is believed that this fish sauce made its way from Vietnam to the southeastern part of China, where it became a standard food item. From there, it traveled to Malaysia and Indonesia where its name morphed into kechap and ketjap respectively. Here, seventeenth-century English sailors discovered the delights of this Chinese seasoning and brought it west where cooks tried to replicate the dark sauce. As the Chinese version is more akin to a Worcestershire sauce, the British used ingredients such as anchovies or oysters, mushrooms, and walnuts to recreate those flavors. In turn, ketchup came to mean a condiment consisting of mushrooms.

 

The Addition of Tomato 

The English settlers brought this mushroom ketchup to America, where it continued to gradually go through various changes. One significant alteration was the addition of tomatoes, which first appeared in a recipe by Sandy Addison in 1801 in The Sugar House Book. The recipe called for squeezing the tomatoes dry and then salting and boiling them. After pressing through a sieve, the tomato is combined with mace, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper to taste. It is then boiled until thick, cooled, and bottled. The bottled ketchup will last for several years, due to the amount of salt, which also made the ketchup taste, you guessed it, very salty.

So, apparent truest origination is Viet Nam, but China made is POPULAR  That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Hahaha!

Anyway, I suspect this is the reason my family has always preferred Hunt's Katsup to Heinz Ketchup.

EDIT to add: Wikipedia is not always your friend, only mostly your friend. I only go to that as a last resort, myself. Just saying.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Alyona Su

[Cougar Sangria]

1 hour ago, Blush Bravin said:

My curiosity was peaked when someone mentioned that Weeping Willows are typically found in the south. So google being my friend I decided to investigate where the Weeping Willow comes from and what is its natural habitat. I was surprised by what I found.

I never ever suspected they came from China!

My fondest memories are the hours I spent playing underneath my beloved Aunts weeping willow tree.  The branches touched the ground and it was like I had my own private oasis.  To this day when I see a weeping willow those memories come flooding back.  Maybe tis why I always incorporate willows in my builds if at all possible.  I live in Southern Indiana and weeping willows along with Victorians, Queen Anne's, or whatever you want to call them are very much prominent in our area.  A few examples...

 https://www.captivatinghouses.com/2018/07/24/1894-victorian-in-evansville-indiana/

 

Edit to include this: 

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Cougar Sangria

[Trinity Aironaut]

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

And those branches sting when used as switches. 

lol

[Trinity Aironaut]

1 hour ago, Blush Bravin said:

My curiosity was peaked when someone mentioned that Weeping Willows are typically found in the south. So google being my friend I decided to investigate where the Weeping Willow comes from and what is its natural habitat. I was surprised by what I found.

I never ever suspected they came from China!

Yeah, it was just the whole atmosphere that seemed like New Orleans to me...... the houses, willows which flourish in wet places, Spanish moss hanging down and the bridges across those streams. And I LOVED IT!

[Pussycat Catnap]

4 hours ago, Blush Bravin said:

My curiosity was peaked when someone mentioned that Weeping Willows are typically found in the south. So google being my friend I decided to investigate where the Weeping Willow comes from and what is its natural habitat. I was surprised by what I found.

I never ever suspected they came from China!

Interesting but... makes sense.

I grew up around Eucalyptus trees never knowing they are an 'invasive species' here in the San Francisco Bay Area. They're from Australia and nearby places. Got brought to this area a little more than a century ago. Since the 2000s, California has been working to remove them and other 'invasive species' (some of which are one of the reasons our fires have been out of control of late) to help with things like drought resistance and native wildlife habitat.

But it came as a surprise to me in my early adulthood to learn that the most common tree where I grew up was a recent transplant from the other side of the planet.

Other oddball facts: grass, and earthworms... are both invasive species in ALL of the Americas - Earthworms only existed 'over on the other side' before Columbus, and grass I "believe" comes from England... but my track record on guessing that stuff is bad...

 

[Rolig Loon]

15 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

I grew up around Eucalyptus trees never knowing they are an 'invasive species' here in the San Francisco Bay Area. They're from Australia and nearby places. Got brought to this area a little more than a century ago. Since the 2000s, California has been working to remove them and other 'invasive species' (some of which are one of the reasons our fires have been out of control of late) to help with things like drought resistance and native wildlife habitat.

/me struggles to imagine the Stanford campus without the smell of eucalyptus in the air.

[Pussycat Catnap]

14 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

/me struggles to imagine the Stanford campus without the smell of eucalyptus in the air.

I know right?

It's actually weird... the smell I used to think of as 'home' is rapidly vanishing from here. You could always smell those trees as you cam over the hills that separate the outer Bay Area from the coastal part... and in many places it's now gone.

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

You could always smell those trees as you cam over the hills

Note what I bolded...............  All these SL discussions - freudian slip possibly

[Beth Macbain]

40 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

grew up around Eucalyptus trees never knowing they are an 'invasive species' here in the San Francisco Bay Area. They're from Australia and nearby places. Got brought to this area a little more than a century ago. Since the 2000s, California has been working to remove them and other 'invasive species' (some of which are one of the reasons our fires have been out of control of late) to help with things like drought resistance and native wildlife habitat.

Why don’t they just release a bunch of koala bears?! They’re so cute and snuggly and would never use those giant claws for bad things! 

[Frigga Freidman]

58 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

 

My apologies, Pussycat. I knew that earthworms were millions of years old, but hadn’t realized that they were effectively extinct in North America following the last Ice Age. I’ve found some confusion in sources consulted too quickly, and as a former librarian (with no particular expertise in biology) I’m abashed at having jumped in without reading more carefully. 😕

Edited December 9, 2019 by Frigga Freidman
correction and apology!

[LyricalBookworm]

I must say that I love the style and region names they have chosen for this new theme. I would love to have a Hardy style in the Darcy region. It just sounds so darn fun! I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen though....and Mr. Darcy too. 

Whatever they decide this theme is called, they are absolutely lovely! They've outdone themselves.

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by LyricalBookworm

[Quartz Mole]

9 hours ago, Beth Macbain said:

And those branches sting when used as switches. 

 

[Beth Macbain]

45 minutes ago, Quartz Mole said:

 

Yes, like that but I prefer it on the backside, please, sir. 😬

[Aethelwine]

On 12/6/2019 at 12:12 AM, Coby Foden said:

No need for separate continents for a long time yet. There are lots of free space to the east from Bellisseria starting just from the southern regions of Squishy Pickle. Going from there to the east and down even past Jeogeot continent. Then when reaching same southern level where the most southern Jeogeot regions are, then there are even more additional space towards the west and east.

It would be very nice if all the new Linden homes regions were on single continuous continent instead of in separate isolated continents. There sure is lots free space for vast expansion yet.

I agree nice to have them together, but I would prefer it if at least one new style continent was put in to link Corsica and Gaeta V with Gaeta I.  It would be great to see that long neglected continent get a bit of love. A couple of water homesteads would link up all that waterway with the Blake sea. 

[Quartz Mole]

7 hours ago, Beth Macbain said:

Yes, like that but I prefer it on the backside, please, sir. 😬

[Kat Shadow]

Will def cut some willow switches to leave them for Krampus next to the milk and cookies for Santa once I nab a Vic. I wonder what the public spaces will look like in the new regions? Maybe we need some New Orleans style cafes (I'd say bars but then I'd feel partly responsible for the Bad Santa barcrawl that'd ensue 😛 )

[Blush Bravin]

It's taken me awhile to figure out which house I want to use and how I'm going to use it. I've decided on the Shelley though I thought about using the other one that's really similar to it because it has those lovely floor to ceiling windows, but in the end the Shelley won out. It won for two reasons. First, I had a very ample wrap around porch but it's not as large as the other which means I won't have to use as many LI to decorate it. Second is the little door coming off of the kitchen that opens into the entry room. I'm going to make a wall and create a separate room out of that little space.

 

It will be very convenient to have my laundry right off of the kitchen. Also, this house has the longest wall without a window so it will help in positioning kitchen cabinets.

 

And those who know me or follow my posts know how crazy I am about having my closet ..... soooooooooooooooooo

And yes, my trad is all packed up and just waiting for the announcement that the new Vics are ready!

[Rolig Loon]

I grew up in a much older home in New England, where the room just to the left as you enter the front door was typically used as a parlor or "sitting room" in the 18th/19th century, where  homeowners would greet the preacher or some other worthy visitor.  As a child, I remember that room as the library in our home, where we were never allowed to play but could sit quietly and read a book in the sunlight.

[Blush Bravin]

37 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

I grew up in a much older home in New England, where the room just to the left as you enter the front door was typically used as a parlor or "sitting room" in the 18th/19th century, where  homeowners would greet the preacher or some other worthy visitor.  As a child, I remember that room as the library in our home, where we were never allowed to play but could sit quietly and read a book in the sunlight.

That's kind of what I was thinking about for the grand entry idea. I would make it very formal looking with a Victorian style fireplace, bookcases, and a settee  If I do that I will probably add French doors to the archway between that room and the next to divide the less formal space from the very formal entry area. I can use the landing on the second floor for a rather informal - contemporary area with television and computer station.

[Kat Shadow]

Yep, the moment I walked into the Shelley, I knew and started planning immediately: wall off the little alcove facing the front door & there's my bathroom (where Blush Bravin is putting a convenient to the kitchen laundry room). Upstairs I have a craft room or guest bedroom and master bedroom... wrap around porch included in LI, gorgeous lead designs in the windows... southern garden landscaping. *This* is going to be my main home, I'm fairly certain    Thrilled with the Victorians! Much love to Lindens & Moles for them.

Edited December 10, 2019 by Kitten Kaos